Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1887-12-02
THE SIN OF SCANDAL

Brooklyn Tabernacle last week was on
the "Sin of Scandal" He said: "Scan-
dals about ministers, scandals about
bank officers, scandals about holders of
trust funds, scandals about city and
State officials, scandals in all directions.
The newspapers north, south, east and
west during the last few weeks have been
surcharged with them. What position
should good men and women take in re-
gard to these attacks on character? Shall
we believe or reject? say reject them
all until guilt is shown. l hereby de
clare my determination TO believe moth
ing against any one until by testimony
beyond dispute the wrong-doing is
proven. 1t is as natural for some peo-
pie to attack others as it is for hound
to go after hare. There are in every
community whole factories of falsehood
that run day and night because the de-
mand upon them is SO great. The rea'
son that so many people become soured
with the world and misanthropiC is be-
cause they believe all they read and
hear about the moral deficit of others.
Almost everybody before he dies gets
lied about. Have you ever examined
the genuine out and out lie and noticed
| its proportions and characteristics. We
stand agape in the British museum look
| ing at the monstrous skeletons of the
mastodon, megatherium, and iguanodon
and conclude that all the great animals
thirty feet long and eleven feet high are
extinct. Now, while we do not want to
frighten children or disturb nervous
people, we have TO say that years ago
we caught a glimpse of a monster be-
sides which the lizards of the Saurian
era wereshort, and the elephants in the
Mammalian period were insignificant.
We saw it in full spring and on the
track of its prey. Children would call
the creature fib, polite folks would call
it fabrication, but plain and unscien-
titic people would style it lie. Natu-
ralists might assign 1t to the species
tigris RECALLS, or felis pardus. Anatom-
cal justice has never been done to the
lie. IL is to be sound in all zones. Liv
nyston saw it in Central Africa. DR..
Kane found it on an iceberg beside u
polar bear. AgassiZ discovered it in Bra
Zil. 1t thrives about rs well 10 one
climate as another, with, perhaps, a lit
tie preference for the temperate zone.
1t lives on berries, on bananas, or corn,
or grapes, or artichokes, drinks water,
or alcohol, or tea. 1t eats up great
many children, and would haye destroy
ed the boy who afterward became the
father Of his country had not he driven
it back with his hatchet.
"The first popularity Of this tigris re
gals, commonly called lie, is its lon
gevity. If it once gets born it lives on
almost interminably. Sometimes 1t has
followed man for ten, twenty, or forty
years, and has been as healthy in its last
leap as its first. 1t has run at every
President, from Washington to Cleve-
land. 1t has barked at every good man
since Adam, and every good woman
since Eve, and every good boy since
Abel. Malarias do not poison it nor
fires burn it nor winters freeze il. Just
now it is after your neighbor; to-mor-
row il will be after you. 1t is the
healthiest of all monsters. Its tooth
knocks out the tooth Of time lts hair
never turns white with age, nor does it
limp with decrepitude. 1t is distin-
guished for its longevity. Observe also
is power. of lOcOmOtiOn. 1t keeps up
with the express train, and is present at
the opening aud the shutting of the mail
bags. Ittakes morning run from New
York TO San Francisco or over 10 Lon
don before breakfast. 1t can go thou
sand miles at jump. 1t would Gespise
seven league boots as tedious. a tele-
graph pole is just knee high to this mon
ster, and from that you can judge his
speed of locomotion. 1t never gets out
of wind, carries a bag of reputation
made up in cold haste, SO that it does
not have to stop for victuals. 1t goes so
fast that sometimes five million people
have seen i, the same morning. Keen
ness of nostril is also characteristic OF
this monster called the lie. 1t can smell
an imperfcction fifty miles away. The
crow has no faculty compared with this
for finding carrion. 1t has scented
something a hundred miles of and be-
fore night came upon its game. 1t has
great genius of olefactOry. 1t can find
more thar is actually there. When it
begins 10 snuff the air you had better
look out. II has grea; length and breadth
and depth and height of nose. Acute
ness OF ear is another characteristic OF
this tigris RECALLS. commonly called the
lie. The rabbit has no power TO listen
as this creature we speak OF. Ii hears
all the sound that comes from 5000 key
holes. Ii catches whisper from the
other side of the room. aud can under
stand the scratch Of pen. Ii has one
ear open toward the east and the other
toward the west, and hears everything
i'm both directions. All the title tattle
of the world pours into those ears like
vinegar through funnel. They are al
ways up and open, and to them an old
fashioned tea party is jubilee and po-
litical campaign is heaven.
Notice, also, the size Of this mon-
ster's throat. The snake has hard ork
to choke down a toad and the crocodile
has mighty struggle 10 take in the
calf, but the monster Of which | speak
Gan swallow ANYTHING. II has throat